A Setback For Linux

Developers of the open source Linux operating system are about to lose a crucial software tool that lets them keep track of version changes. The loss could delay Linux development and even make the operating system more vulnerable to security breaches

Since 2002, Linux creator, Linus Torvalds, and thousands of Linux programmers have enjoyed free use of a development tool called BitKeeper. But as of July, BitKeeper’s creator, Larry McVoy, will stop providing free software and support to the Linux effort.

McVoy says he offered to let Linux programmers keep using BitKeeper without paying license fees. All he wanted was to recover the $500,000 a year it was costing him to provide support.

Instead, Torvalds and his army are dropping BitKeeper, even though the move will disrupt Linux development as thousands of programmers switch over to a new home-grown tool that isn’t even finished yet.

“Losing BK [BitKeeper] clearly has slowed down things a bit already, and we don’t know how much it will affect us in the longer term,” Torvalds says via e-mail.

He confirmed that version 2.6.12 of the Linux kernel was delayed a month because of the BitKeeper setback, but it will be available in a few weeks

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